Fritz Kaegi

Cook County Assessor

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Fritz Kaegi is a progressive Democrat running for Cook County Assessor to bring fairness, transparency and professionalism to the broken property tax system plaguing the Chicago area.

Fritz was born and raised in the Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago, where his parents have lived for 42 years. Fritz has spent his career valuing assets as a financial manager at Columbia Wanger Asset Management. In 13 years at Columbia Wanger, Fritz served as a financial steward, helping average families save for retirement as well as focusing on global small companies. In addition to being a Chartered Financial Analyst, Fritz also received the Certified Illinois Assessment Officer (CIAO) designation to deepen his understanding of the property tax assessment system.

As lifelong progressive activist, Fritz has been a major supporter of grassroots causes and campaigns, including the 2014 minimum wage ballot measure and supporting local organizations such as Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and Reconciling Ministries. Fritz is also a partner and investment committee member at Social Venture Partners Chicago, which provides the financial backing and capacity-building resources of its partners to Chicago nonprofits fighting the cycle of poverty.

The County Assessor’s Office is a vital economic player in the Chicago region, determining how the $14 billion annual property tax bill is divided fairly amongst residents. Yet the current Assessor has created a flourishing pay-to-play environment that confers most of its benefits on downtown corporate property owners, all while pushing greater financial burden onto outlying working-class neighborhoods. The office is generating shocking over-assessments of residents, especially those living in areas impacted by the housing crisis and foreclosures- namely in communities of color. People have every right to expect fairness and good stewardship from this office.

Fritz is running for much-needed culture change in the County Assessor’s office that will deliver a major economic benefit to county residents and improve confidence in the fairness of the property tax system. Fritz has one priority and one priority only: to make the Cook County Assessor office ethical, transparent, and fair.